Hockey Program

Discover the secrets to becoming an elite level ice hockey player!

At any level, a comprehensive hockey program MUST have on-ice and off-ice training. Youth hockey programs that have limited ice time and/or no off-ice training programs generally lose out to the hockey programs that provide enough ice time for skill and team system work, and have off-ice training programs to help their players develop.

Most hockey programs are moving in a direction of a “win at all costs” mentality, which is crippling player development.

I’ve had parents tell me that their kids developed more in one weekend with me than they had through entire seasons with their coaches.

That’s a problem. As a hockey player, unless you’re being paid to win, you need to make sure you’re part of a hockey program that allows you to develop SKILL.

Some hockey skills that you should focus on include:

Power skating

Skating edge work

Transitional skating patterns*

Puck handling around the entire body stationary and while moving

Puck protection

Stationary shooting

Shooting with your feet moving

One-timers

Contact

The “2-Way Skater” is a great exercise to improve hip strength, proper skating patterns, and core stability.

Are team systems killing your progress?

Too often hockey players as young as 10 are taught team systems such as “the trap” when they are in desperate need of more skill work. After all, you could be in the right spot on the ice, but if you can’t skate it won’t make a difference. I realize ice time is limited, and I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be doing ANY team system work. As a general rule, half of your on-ice practice time should be spent working on individual skills.

You’d be surprised how incorporating some skating technique work as part of your warm-up, adding a few small area rapid pace puck handling drills, and taking a couple dozen shots at the end of practice will accelerate your skill development.

A hockey training program could be the missing link!

In general, the majority of hockey programs are beginning to recognize the benefits of implementing a team-wide hockey training program. Hockey programs should have training programs for their players for the off-season, pre-season, and in-season, and the programs should be overseen by a well-qualified Athletic Development Coach (sometimes referred to as a Strength and Conditioning Coach).

During the off-season, most hockey programs don’t have organized on-ice practices, which is a good thing. Players need time away from the ice to allow their bodies time to recover from the unique stresses hockey places on them. This also allows hockey players to follow a high intensity, relatively high volume hockey training program with a primary emphasis on improving muscular strength and power.

Transitioning from off-season to pre-season hockey training…

As you transition from the off-season to the pre-season, your training program should have a higher emphasis on low load, high velocity lifts or movements, and on transitional speed work. Because you’re starting on-ice practices, the off-ice training volume should be reduced significantly and most conditioning should take place on the ice.

The goal of your in-season training program is still to become stronger and faster. Try to have one “high stress” training session (high load strength training, average training volume) and one “low stress” (low load high velocity strength training, low training volume) training session per week. If your hockey program doesn’t provide this type of training, seek out a good Athletic Development Coach to work with on your own or a quality hockey training resource that helps you design your own effective training program.

Prevent overtraining!

During any phase of training, the key is to find a balance between the overall stress to your body, and your ability to recover from that stress. Remember that your body doesn’t distinguish between stressors in your life. This means you could become over-stressed (more inclusive than “over-training”) from too much training, too much practice, too many games, not enough sleep, poor dietary habits, environmental stressors, relationship problems, or an excessive school or work load (among other things!).

This is a hard concept for most hockey players to grasp, but it’s important for you to realize that more is NOT always better. If you’re dragging through a training session, it would probably do MORE for your development to just cut the training session short.

If every hockey player works hard, your ability to work smart will be what sets you apart from your competition.

*Power skating, skating edgework, and transitional skating patterns are discussed in more detail in the “Power Skating Drills” section.

You’re ready to become a strong, fast, dominant hockey player, now you need to take action!

Ultimate Hockey Training is the only comprehensive step-by-step training manual for hockey players and coaches endorsed by the world’s leading hockey training experts! Ultimate Hockey Training will show you:

How to maximize skating speed through simple technique improvements

How to combine linear and transitional speed training techniques to maximize on-ice transfer from off-ice training

Plyometric progressions to improve lower body power and skating speed

Full body power progressions to improve shooting velocity

Conditioning modalities and progressions to ensure you’re as strong and fast in the third period as you are in the first

Check out this video for a small sample of the information contained within Ultimate Hockey Training!

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“Test drive” my system for the next 60 days with absolutely no risk. You are completely protected by our 100% money back guarantee.

You will not only be satisfied, I guarantee you will be thrilled and amazed with the book, or you can simply email me and ask for a prompt and courteous, no hassles, no questions asked, 100% refund.

In fact, if you’re not completely happy for any reason at all, then I insist that you ask for a refund. However, after seeing so many hockey players take their game to the next level using the concepts in this book, I’m totally confident that you will achieve a whole new level of athletic excellence.